There’s something about baseball—something
distinctly American and childlike—that helps it to serve as a metaphor for many
aspects of life itself. Perhaps it’s simply what we’ve come to perceive
about baseball from the movies, but either way, it almost always provides the
basis to elaborate on uplifting themes like fulfilling dreams, overcoming
obstacles, winning the big game, etc. On the flip side, it also allows an
opportunity for our frailty to show: playing for money, losing childhood
innocence, striking out, etc. The best baseball stories manage to weave both of
these together, as Bernard Malamud’s novel The Natural does, but movies
are prone to favor stories concentrating on the former themes, which
accounts for Barry Levison’s bastardization of Malamud’s novel. The
Rookie is all about those earlier themes. It would be tempting to call it
formulaic if not for the fact that it’s based on a true story. So tempting, in
fact, that the movie could be considered an example of art imitating life
imitating art.

The town of Big Lake, Texas was founded on the
site of an oil prospect discovered in the 1920s. As the oil industry there
winded down, baseball emerged as the town’s pride and joy. Cut the ’70s and
a young boy named Jimmy Morris (Trevor Morgan) whose childhood is comprised of
baseball and moving across the country as his father (Brain Cox), an Army man,
is transferred. By the time they finally settle down in Big Lake, the town’s
new sport is football, and baseball essentially does not exist. Flash ahead to
1999, the now thirty-five year old Jim (Dennis Quaid) teaches high school
chemistry and coaches the financially neglected school baseball team. He’s
married to Lorri (Rachel Griffiths) and has three kids. He has also suffered a
shoulder injury, preventing him from achieving his Major League dream. While
pitching for batting practice, though, he displays an incredible fastball, and
his players make him a bet: If they win the district title, he will try out for
the professionals.

As it’s based on a true, feel-good story (there
wouldn’t be a movie based on the life of a man who simply cannot fulfill his
dream because time has robbed him of his talents), of course the team wins, Jim
tries out, demonstrates a ninety-eight mile-per-hour pitch, and becomes a major
contender. The movie’s greatest virtue is that it takes time with its story.
There’s usually a tendency to rush movies like this, as we already know what
will happen. We can see it in the way John Schwartman’s traditional but wholly
effective cinematography lingers on scenes and helps create an old-fashioned
mood. During the first act involving the high school baseball team, this style
of storytelling ends up hindering the movie. Since the focus of the movie is Jim’s
progress, the school team is simply the impetus to get him started on his way. The
team’s progression is of little importance to the story as a whole; it’s
simply that they accomplish their goal that matters. The movie spends too much
time developing their achievements without placing them in a thematic context,
which would not only develop the characters more but also give the movie a
stronger footing.

In later story developments, this more relaxed
approach helps the movie. As Jim becomes the sole focal point, it becomes far
more specific and much more effective. If the first act is about a generic slice
of Americana, what follows is one man’s slice of that Americana—his dream.
This section of the movie works the best. Jim has already established a life for
himself, and in order to fulfill his dream, he must leave everything he’s
known. He’s wanted this since childhood, but that doesn’t necessarily make
it easy. Jim questions whether or not abandoning his family is worth the very
small chance that he would make it to the majors. As Jim, Dennis Quaid is
effective, especially in these scenes. As much as it may seem the opposite, the
movie is not a character-driven one. It never really gets into the characters,
with Jim of course the minor exception. The rest of the actors, particularly
Rachel Griffiths and Brian Cox, fit the broad types they play just fine.

True story or not, we’ve seen The Rookie
many times before. The movie is well crafted and, once we move past the first
act, quite entertaining. The "follow your dreams" moral is about as
inspirational as it can be after it’s been recycled in lesser movies so many
times, which isn’t to say that it’s not affecting—just not as much as it
could have been. Maybe it’s asking too much, but if a movie is truly going to
inspire me, I want a little more than this.